KSA beheads Pakistani drugs smuggler

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia on Thursday beheaded a Pakistani national convicted of trying to smuggle drugs into the kingdom, the interior ministry announced. Munawar Khan was arrested at King Khaled International airport in Riyadh as he was trying to “smuggle an amount of heroin found in his body,” said a ministry statement carried by the official SPA news agency. He was beheaded by the sword in the capital Riyadh, it said. The execution brings to 63 the number of people put to death in Saudi Arabia so far this year, according to an AFP tally based on official reports. Amnesty International says 79 people were put to death last year. Rape, murder, apostasy, armed robbery and drug trafficking are all punishable by death under its strict version of sharia, or Islamic law.